I dreamt last night
of your black winter coat,
dusted in cold winter white,
the january sky, sifting down,
soft and wet
its fabric turned in on nothing
but pocketed air,
bearing up from dark wool
the subtle heat I once knew
folded under your arms,
folded against your body.

as if you had just left.
as if you had just been there.

How can I forget
our bodies, facing pulse to pulse,
your flesh and my flesh,
the spaces between, undone.
Your lips, your kisses conformed,
burning so hot in my mouth
that I can still taste them.

I know they will belong to someone else.
Someone else.
I feel like a stranger. I feel like a ghost moving among things unfamiliar.
I can't forget, only acquiesce.
Resign each hope.
Shake from every bough
every waking dream.

Breathe out.
Sink deep.